By: J. Daniel Pearson for Positively Osceola
With the pressure squarely on in the fourth quarter, Harmony kept its cool and held on to win their fifth consecutive game – a 57-47 win over host Gateway. The victory ruined the celebratory mood on campus, as the Panthers were playing their first home game in their brand new gym.
“I wasn’t surprised that it was a close, hard-fought game,” Harmony coach Duke Leonardo said. “Whenever you play Gateway, you know it’s going to be a physical game and you know they are going to be going against a disciplined and well-coached team. I don’t think we played our best tonight but our kids fought and played hard for 32 minutes.”
Harmony, now 11-2 on the season, came out with a pressure defense in the first half. But despite forcing 15 turnovers, they could manage just a 21-21 tie at intermission as neither team shot the ball particularly well.
The Longhorns would take control of the game in the third period, going on a 12-2 run to build a 10-point lead. Harmony would then keep the pressure on, expanding the lead to as much as 17 before settling on a 43-29 advantage after three quarters.
While the turnovers were a key (Gateway committed 10 more in the period), Harmony’s interior defense and a huge disparity in free throws attempted were the main reason for the double digit lead. For the game, Harmony would block 10 shots and would go to the line 25 times in the first three periods – compared to just four attempts by Gateway.
“It was a really physical game on both ends and I really don’t think we got our share of the calls,” Gateway coach Travis James said. “But the refs are going to call what they are going to call, so you have to be able to overcome that situation.”
Trailing by 14, Gateway would make several runs in the final eight minutes.
Kyle McGregor would score 11 of his game-high 19 points in the fourth as the Panthers cut the lead to five points on two occasions. But Harmony kept its composure and broke Gateway’s press several times in the final three minutes, which resulted in two easy layups and several more free throw attempts. The Longhorns would hit six of 10 of those charity attempts down the stretch to eventually build the lead back to 10.
For the game, Vlad Torrado led the Longhorns with 16 points but it was a balanced attack that led to the win. Noah Tribe added 10 points and six different Longhorn players contributed six or more points. “This was a good test for us because we did not play particularly well tonight,” Leonardo said. “But what it taught us is that even when we don’t have our ‘A’ game — patience, determination and effort can still win you a game.”
Gateway, who fell to 5-7 on the season, finished the game with more field goals than the Longhorns (21-16), but committed 28 turnovers and missed several layups in the paint. “The most disappointing aspect of tonight was the turnovers. We have good, quick guards and we usually have no problem handling pressure. But for some reason tonight, I thought we played timid, almost scared and it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
It was not a total letdown for Gateway, however.
The Lady Panthers opened the day with a 1 p.m. matinee against Freedom in the new facility and came away with a 46-20 win.
Still missing their top player Malayna Stevenson (ankle injury), Gateway jumped out a 13-0 lead in the game and never looked back in pushing their season record to 9-2.
Sophomore Alyssa Marino led the way with 18 points; while Karyna Rivera and Evana Rivera scored nine and eight points respectively.
“We came out and took care of business,” Panthers coach Justin Marino noted. “Hopefully we’ll get Malayna back in time for the end of the regular season and playoffs.” The Lady Panthers play Cocoa (1/9) and at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy this week as they prepare for the Orange Belt Conference Tournament (Jan. 16-19).
